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Baby Chick Vanilla Cupcakes (Small Batch Cupcakes for Spring)

Spring must be the cutest season when it comes to baking! My point being there are many great things happening in Spring that you can replicate in a dessert and/or baked good. Case and point would be my adorable Baby Chick Vanilla Cupcakes!

I took my Best Ever Vanilla Cake recipe and modified it into a small batch of cupcakes that yields 4 Big & Bold cupcakes. My cupcake recipes are the perfect size to fit in a toaster oven however they can also be made in a regular oven too. The timing and temperature for your toaster oven will be the same as your regular oven.

Don’t underestimate the power of a toaster oven! They are fantastic pieces of kitchen equipment and are great for baking. Often they are used in shared living spaces, dorms or by people with limited kitchens but I think they are great for everyone.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg, buttermilk, butter and vanilla extract together until combined.

In the wet ingredients add in the rest of the ingredients.

Slowly mix the dry into the wet ingredients until no lumps remain. Batter will be thick. Do not overmix as it can toughen your cupcakes.

Pour the batter into 4 cupcake liners almost to the top.

Bake at 350of (180oC) for 15-17 minutes, or until they are firm in the middle and don’t appear damp. This recipe bakes fast.

Once baked, take them out of the tin and cool on a baking rack until cold.

To make the frosting: beat softened butter on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer. Beat for 3 minutes until light and creamy. Add the sugar while the mixer is still running. Increase to high speed and continue beating until the buttercream is light and fluffy. Add in the milk and vanilla and whip in.

Color the buttercream with yellow food coloring until you have reached your desired color.

Store in the fridge if not using straight away.

Make the feet, nose and eyes: Melt some white chocolate. Divide it between 2 bowls and color them orange and black. Scoop into a piping bag and cut a tiny hole

Pipe the nose, eyes and feet on a piece of parchment paper and place in the fridge to set

To Decorate: Fit a piping bag with a large round nozzle and fill with your yellow buttercream frosting

Point the piping bag straight down and pipe a big dollop of buttercream for the chicks body

On top of that, pipe a small dollop for the chicks head (dollop is the only word I think best describes it)

Carefully place on the feet, eyes and nose.

Once decorated store the cupcakes in the fridge for up to 4 days. Let them reach room temperature before eating.

Recipe Notes

* How to make Buttermilk: For every Cup of Buttermilk needed mix 1 cup of regular milk with 2 tablespoons of Lemon juice or white vinegar. Mix and let it stand for a minimum of 30 minutes before usingIf you don’t have a small cupcake tray use silicone cupcake linersEggs: Replace the egg with the same amount of apple sauce/puree or banana

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Meet Gemma

Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, and I’m passionate about sharing my years of experience to show you how to make game-changing baking recipes with over-the-top results! Join more than 1 Million other Bold Bakers in the community for new video recipes every week!

Have you made a recipe? Share photos on my website or across social media with the hashtag #boldbaker.

75 Comments

Hi Gemma!
Happy Easter and thank you for the delicious vanilla cake and buttercream frosting recipes. I made the 4 baby chick cupcakes and they were a huge hit! Not as perfect as yours but totally sincere. I was proud. 😀 I posted a picture. My son and granddaughter have the same birthday..turned 36 and 5. They LOVED!! I’ve also made the big layered cake version. It’s the best cake and frosting ever..hands down..and you’re as cute as a bug. Thanks angel. I’m so grateful you’re Gemma. xxx ~BiBi

Hi biBi,
I saw your gorgeous chicks! well done you, I am delighted that you shared this with us. I am happy that oyu family loved this too, particularly the little girl, they love to bake too!
Thank you too for your kind words, a ladybug I hope 😉
Gemma <3

Hi there,
The best advice I can give you is to look to this recipe (https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/crazy-cupcakes/). For 24 cupcakes you double the base recipe here. Write it out and multiply each ingredient by two. Flavor as you wish. This is easy as this is a proportional recipe, and it will serve you well for all of your cakes too.
Let us see the results,
Gemma 🙂

Hi.. I tried this recipe today… I followed all the measurements exactly as u mentioned… But cupcakes were gummy.. But when I checked with toothpick it came out clean…is there any specific reason for gummy cupcakes?

Hi there,
Yes, you always preheat an oven for baking. I am really focused on the oven here. I think a toaster oven needs to be understood, as the heating elements are so near the food, the bake can appear done, when it is not. Do read your instruction book carefully, I think the answer is in understanding how to use this appliance for different bakes.
I hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂

I tried this recipe out today. I was really looking forward to the cupcakes because I love your videos, but the cupcakes failed.

Could I ask for your advice as to what went wrong? The batter turned out to be a very runny consistency. The cupcakes were very wet and gummy. I baked them for at least 25 minutes but they just became harder on the outside but still wet and gummy on the inside.

a) I used a convection oven, preheated to 180 degrees. Does it matter that my oven had no overhead heating element, like the usual ovens?
b) As my muffin tin was very shallow, I could fill 8 cupcake cases almost to the brim.
c) I did accidentally add about 10 ml more of milk when making buttermilk. I then added 1.5 tbsp of lemon juice to the milk to make buttermilk.
d) When measuring out the butter, it was initially in the fridge so I had to measure it when it was still unmelted = i.e. 60 g of unmelted butter. Would 60g of unmelted butter be different from 60g of melted butter?

I would be most grateful if you could share with me some comments as to what went wrong…? I tried 1 cupcake and it tasted nice, but far too oily and very very gummy.

Hi there Akari,
I am sorry that this recipe did not work so well for you.
The first thing I am wondering about is what your oven is? Is it a toaster oven, and if it is why is there no element at the top?
This is very confusing for me, for a toaster oven to work as a convection oven it needs to be able to bring all of the elements into play, unless there is something I do not know. Did you melt the butter, 60g is four tablespoons of butter, if this is melted it will be less, but this is not what is called for, when a recipe say 60g of butter, melted, it means it ti be 60g weight, then melted.
I think you got a few things wrong here, but the biggest problem, as far as I can see is your oven, if the heat is not evenly distributed in your oven, then it cannot bake!
Have this checked out first.
Gemma 🙂

Hi Sarah,
I suppose room temperature is a different thing in different places. If the butter is not soft enough to beat, you need to soften it a little before you proceed.
A few seconds, and I mean a few seconds in the microwave will do it, but you need to stand over it.
I am sorry this did not work out for you. I hope I got it right here, you can try again another time.
Gemma 🙂

Trying your recipe for the first time….just for future reference though, is it possible to make this without using eggs? If so what should I use and how much?
Also, my batter did not come out as thick as yours it was more fluid…what could’ve gone wrong? And it also served 6…very confused here.

Hi Gemma. For this recipe, is the cupcake really sweet when the frosting is on it? Because my family complains that its too sweet. So can I reduce the sugar in the cupcake so that when i add the frosting it, the sweetness will even out? If I can, how much sugar should I use in the cupcake recipe?

Hi there,
These recipes are balanced, to make them light and fluffy, I would not adjust the sugar in this recipe.
buttercream frosting is sweet! Adding cocoa can adjust the sweetness of this, but it needs to be made according to the recipe. Swiss buttercream is less sweet, and your family may prefer this,
Gemma 🙂

Hi Gemma.. I am a big fan of you and your recipes..Glad that I found you through one of my friends hashtags on instagram 😀 ..I have tried many recipes of yours which have been a huge success..

Can you tell me if the brownsugar is mandatory for this recipe or if I can substitute it with normal icing sugar i.e, a total of 4.5 tbsp of sugar as per the recipe(2 ½ tablespoons sugar + 2 tablespoons brown sugar)

Hi Alex,
This is a good question. I would use all white caster sugar for this. Powdered sugar will indeed measure differently, will be less sweet, but you could try it!
Take a look at the measurements chart here, or try weighing this out yourself if you have a digital scales.
Gemma 🙂

Good question ruby. This is the science of baking. The combination of an alkaline with an acid provides leavening, which is what rises the bake.
Baking powder is already balanced: Bicarbonate of soda + cream of tartar.
Bicarbonate of soda is an alkaline, and cream of tartar is an acid (made from the residue of fermented grapes!)
When you use bicarb in a bake you will usually use it with buttermilk, or yogurt, which are also acid!
Self raising flour already has the raising agen balanced in it, but chefs would always choose to add it as an ingredient, for the sake of freshness.
Sometimes bicarb is used to give crispness in a cookie, and that is another application.
I hope you are not thoroughly confused!
Use your selfaraising flour for this recipe, it will be fine if it is fresh,
Gemma 🙂

Hi there,
Not so much! Milk adds a little richness to the batter, when you change an ingredient you change the result. If dairy is a problem for you use a nut milk, if you cannot get buttermilk add a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to 200 ml of milk to sour it slightly.
Gemma 🙂

Hi Rahul,
Do you mean cup measurements v grams/ounces? One of the problems with the cup system of measurement is that you have to trust it! the weight per cup varies across different ingredients, including liquids, fruits, flour, powdered sugar etc. I will shortly do an explanatory sheet for this, stay tuned,
Gemma 🙂

Hi Nishunitha,
This is a difficult question to answer, as each type of bake will look for a different solution.
This is a site I look at when I am researching a recipe (http://chefinyou.com/), it is a vegan dedicated site, and worth a look,
Gemma 🙂

Hey Gemma?
I love your recipes! They look delicious. I’ve been watching your videos. I’ve watched almost all of them . I’m making a cooking folder with all of your your recipes in them.But when I watched your videos I couldn’t find the recipes… until I looked on the website. I was saved. But your recipes are AMAZING, I get hungry every time I watch your videos cause they look SO good. Just wanted you to know. You are such an inspiration to me. I want to be a cook/baker when I grow up and when I do… I’ll follow the recipes the exact way you did them.
Thank you for being an inspiration to me,
Peyton ❤

Hi Gemma ?
I just want to thank you for responding. Ummm… quick question.When you make the buttermilk, can you leave it in the fridge and up to how long can you keep the buttermilk in the fridge? Sorry but I have one more question, can you give me the exact amount of milk and lemon juice/white vinegar you woyld need for 12 cuocakes thankyou so much
Sincerely,
Peyton ?

Hi Peyton,
When you make a buttermilk substitute it is best not to store it for more than a day or so.
For one liter of milk you will use one tablespoon of vinegar/lemon juice. If you need more you can add extra milk, but only one teaspoon extra of vinegar/lemon juice for every liter of milk. You can reduce this down, or increase as you require it. You then take your quantity from this for whichever recipe you use. It would be difficult to change a really small amount of milk, so best to do 1/4 liter milk to a little less that a teaspoon of vinegar, and work from that,
Gemma 🙂

Hi KW,
In a jug mix one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice with 500 ml of milk, allow to stand at room temperature for about 30 mins, or until it forms curds. This is a substitute for buttermilk. If you need a larger quantity add more milk, but only an extra teaspoon of vinegar for every 500 ml.
For a more natural substitute you can use natural yogurt and milk, 3/4 yogurt to 1/4 milk, some people prefer this.
Gemma 🙂

I found your YouTube channel only a week ago and have been binge watching so many great videos when I have a chance! I love them all so far and have really been looking forward to making some of these recipes. I decided to make the small batch vanilla cupcakes this afternoon and was very excited! I thought I’d make the frosting first just to get it out of the way. Using my stand mixer I noticed it started to look curdled:( I looked over everything again and I can’t tell where I went wrong. I just mixed it on high a bit more and it looked better…. But not great. And also it had such an odd flavor. I doubt this is a recipe problem but just a baker problem. I salvaged the frosting and moved on to the cupcake batter, it came together good although I got six instead of four… Strange but I decided to move forward and bake. Couldn’t get them to brown and they just kept bubbling and seemed really oily?? I just can’t tell where I went wrong! After taking them out of the oven and letting them cool I did a taste test and couldn’t have been more disappointed:( I never thought a cupcake could be so bad. I know this must be an error from my end… I feel like I’m in a baker rut. If you can tell where I went wrong please let me know!! I will keep enjoying your videos and try another recipe soon.

Hi Tessa,
I am stumped! The frosting is just butter, sugar and milk really, so the only thing I can think of is that you did not use real butter!
The cupcake batter will usually fill four muffin sized holders, so are large.
I have no idea what went wrong in your bake, I cannot understand why the result is so bad, but I am sorry that it worked out like this for you. My other bold bakers have reported great results,
Gemma 🙂

Hi Olga,
What you need is:
1 pint of whole milk, or 2% milk
1 tablespoon of lemon Juice or whit vinegar
Stir the vinegar/lemon into the milk and allow to stand at room temperature for about 1/2 hour, when you will see it thicken. This is a substitute for buttermilk. The alternative is to use plain natural yogurt mixed with water 3/4 yogurt to 1/4 water.
In a recipe this addition is about the alkaline/acid balance, and the reaction with the raising agent.
Gemma 🙂